


Extraneous Variables

by TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsFoxfire



Series: Between The Lies [1]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:40:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22424968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsFoxfire/pseuds/TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsFoxfire
Summary: A look into what Delphine might have been thinking between the scenes we saw on the show.Part One begins the day after her and Cosima sleep together for the first time and she's given Leekie the names of the self aware clones.Rated M for frequent mentions of sex but there is no actual sex in this. Later parts of the series might move it up to E.
Relationships: Delphine Cormier/Aldous Leekie, Delphine Cormier/Cosima Niehaus
Series: Between The Lies [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613818
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	Extraneous Variables

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm trying something new here....  
> Firstly, it's not a smutfest.  
> Secondly, I usually write Delphine post season 2 when she's gone all boss bitch or during/post season 5 when she's literally a perfection of the human form, so this is a bit of a challenge for me.  
> The reason this is happening is because I'm re watching Orphan Black (again) and I remembered how frustrated I was during season 1 and 2 that Delphine didn't get given a backstory or scenes where we got to know her as a person that would justify the way she behaves or the decisions she makes. 
> 
> I have many theories about her motivations, here lies one of them. RIP. 
> 
> I'm so keen for feedback or constructive criticism, let me know what you think!

It was the memory of Cosima’s lips that were the hardest to shake. She felt her skin would be forever changed from the feeling of them trailing her body as if they were mapping her. She had stared at them for so long while Cosima had slept peacefully beside her that she thought now she could be presented with the lips of every woman on the planet and she would pick them out without a moment’s hesitation.

When all was said and done in Minnesota, Delphine had returned to the DYAD Institute that same day on a plane to face Aldous Leekie, willing herself in desperation to be able to lie convincingly about Cosima. She did not want him to know she had been intimate with the woman… yes, definitely a woman now, and not simply 324B21. No amount of scientific data or contractual obligation could convince Delphine otherwise. Her soft skin, her supple curves, her dreadlocked hair that reminded Delphine of rich cocoa spun into dark tresses. No longer a number on a database or a subject to befriend and observe, no, Cosima was a wonder in her own right. The fact that she was a product of a human cloning experiment was secondary, possibly not even registering on the scale of importance now that she knew what it was like to be all encompassed by Cosima’s enthusiasm, knowledge, skill and warmth. To feel the touch of her skin and see the consideration sparkling in her deep, intellectual eyes. Cosima’s smile had been infectious even before Delphine knew what it tasted like, how soft it was, how it could make her feel alive and giddy like she supposed she was meant to feel when being made love to, and now in her memory it was a sweet opium that Delphine felt dangerously addicted to after only one high. 

She had wondered at first if she should hide her intimacy with Cosima from Aldous because she was concerned that he would cut her off from the privileges she had gained by sleeping with him. It was all she had in the way of a social life this side of the Atlantic to tell the truth of it, but more importantly she now had access to one of the most ground breaking human experiments of all time. She was on the way to a career that would justify the ineptitude of her personal life and place her among a select group of scientists pioneering technology for the brave new world, but then she had reasoned that Aldous was not at all a jealous man and when she looked past the façade of their relationship she could see it in his eyes that he did not love or care for her. His interest in Delphine was at best for her brain and at worst purely physical. It stroked his ego even further than his directorship of DYAD, though possibly not as much as the throngs of Freaky Leekies that surrounded and worshipped him at his book events. Therefore, her having sex with someone else in order to get Leekie what he wanted for the institute would most definitely not anger him. He hadn’t specifically instructed her to get intimate with Cosima, but he had implied she should push further once he knew Cosima had made a pass at her. She sighed deeply as her mind fired in directions she hadn’t considered. Did she want to continue sleeping with him now? She knew that her evening in Cosima’s bed had changed something deep within her emotionally even though it wasn’t supposed to, that she was opening doors into her psyche that she kept carefully closed. She needed to get back to her apartment and sink a bottle of wine to really come to terms with the fact that she had slept with a woman, with Cosima, and that she wanted to do it again. And again.

Her relationship with Aldous was a little more complicated than she usually liked with sexual partners, him being her boss, but she hadn’t liked to dwell on it as it served it’s purpose. She didn’t want to call it interest, or attraction. She liked the fancy dinners, the glamorous events and being introduced to peers. She liked that it was fast tracking her position at the institute. She liked having someone of incredible intellect to converse with. She liked that they had enough in common scientifically for her to be comfortable around him so often. Physically, though, he did nothing for her. On the occasion he insisted on sex after a date she would go to a place in her memory where she kept Jacques, a young university professor she had been pursued by while she was studying her PhD. He had been exceptionally good looking, and charming too. She had enjoyed her times in his bed the most she had ever considered enjoying sex, and the fact that he didn’t require an emotional commitment because he had a wife to return home to was the bonus she craved. She knew she had issues caused by her experiences in her formative years. Perhaps they were resulting in her avoidance of commitment, this perpetual inability to allow another person to truly get under her skin, how she used her career to fill every void she felt inside. She could already feel that she was tilting off her axis in Cosima’s orbit, wanting to share things she had never opened up to anyone about, wanting to laugh and be brave and loose and free just like the incredible woman she had been so willing to treat as a number, a file, a test subject. Delphine Beraud was not a real person and however impossible it seemed, she wanted Cosima to know who Delphine Cormier actually was.

“Delphine,” Aldous Leekie nodded curtly as she entered his glass walled office and passed through the columns and platforms of floating experiments on the way to his desk. “I trust you had a pleasant flight. Let’s get straight to it shall we? I’d like to know how you got the information you gave me and how you can be sure that Cosima will stay naïve to any further DYAD activity concerning her creation. Did you bring copies of the paperwork you found?” He tapped the pen he was holding in his right hand impatiently on the corner of his open laptop.

“I’m sorry Aldous, I didn’t have much time and I believed the risk of her becoming aware of my involvement with DYAD too great to remove the research she has. I put it back where I found it immediately.” Aldous raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to talk, so Delphine continued quickly. “It was just a list of names and a copy of the German’s passport. I read to you all she has.”

His mouth closed as he frowned, dropped the pen, and moved to take something out of his desk drawer. Delphine studied his lined, hard face as he did so and her mind flashed with images of Cosima hovering above her, moving in her, shining with happiness and well controlled lust. Her stomach fluttered unfamiliarly and she blinked hard once to try and shift the arousal she felt at the memory. When she returned her gaze to the man in front of her, he was shuffling a stack of paper and moving to pick up his glasses from the desk to his right.

“I need you to read through this, it’s an employment contract intended for Cosima. You’ll tell me if you think she would consider joining us here at The DYAD on these terms, or if there are… more appropriate hooks we can add to catch her, if you will. It would be wise for us to keep her close so we can control what she sees and inevitably passes on. She may be self aware now but we must prevent her from contacting any more subjects. Distraction with her own genome should prove sufficient for a while, we will have to be extra vigilant with her.”

“Yes, of course.” Delphine reached over and took the contract from Aldous. He smiled tightly at her as he sat back into his chair and swept his arm widely to invite her to take a seat. She did so, perching lightly on the edge of the leather armchair opposite where Leekie sat. 

“In light of my next topic, I do believe we will have to change our more personal arrangements, Delphine.” 

She glanced up from the paperwork and met his gaze, hoping that he would not be able to see the emotion bubbling behind her eyes. Perhaps it was best to let him think it was his idea? If he felt in control of it then she might not lose any ground in her career, he might be more inclined to offer her a permanent position within the experiment. She held her breath as she waited for him to continue.

“Hmm, yes. I am pleased that you have managed to infiltrate her personal space so well, we have had issues with her in the past with allowing monitors access but she seems to like you. Did she make another pass at you after we spoke?” Delphine could see the amusement dancing in his eyes as he looked at her expectantly. What was one more lie in this web of deceit? 

“No, Aldous. She did not.” A shot went through her gut at another memory of Cosima’s hand slipping between her thighs, deft fingertips grazing over the material of her underwear. She reasoned that she wasn’t truly lying to him, she had made the pass at Cosima this time, but she still held her breath incase he somehow knew. She wouldn’t put it past DYAD to have hidden cameras or microphones in their subject’s houses.

“We, uh, we talked about it. Last night I mean. She apologized and I told her it was okay. It, uh…”

He chuckled lightly, seemingly not noticing that she was struggling to make eye contact and that a blush was creeping up her chest and neck, and then he cleared his throat to cut her off and continue with his trail of thought. 

“Well, that is disappointing.” Aldous shook his head slightly as if ridding himself of his amusement before turning a serious expression on her. “What I mean to say now is that you are to become Cosima’s monitor full time, Delphine. You have gained her trust and that is very important. She is in danger, grave danger, the whole experiment is, and we need someone to make sure she is safe, reachable and in cooperation with us at all times. Her monitors in the past have been homosexual women to facilitate a relationship whereby we have access to her body. You might want to reconsider your acceptance of her apology and have her make another pass at you.” He seemed dismissive, and although Delphine was relieved she would have an out of her relationship with Aldous, it now seemed like she was being forced into a relationship with Cosima as part of her job. 

“Uh, yes Aldous. Of course. What kind of danger is Cosima in? And the experiment?”

“I’m sorry Delphine, that’s not your concern. You already know much more about this than any other monitor in the program and you are being trusted with it simply on the weight of my own word. Your job for the foreseeable future will be to get as close to 324B21 as possible and report directly for me for instructions at every turn. If you mess this up then there will be extremely severe consequences for all of us. Am I making myself clear?”

She nodded. “Clair comme du cristal.”

“Excellent. I will email you the updated employment contract once I have it back from HR,” he had relaxed now, leaning back in his chair pressing his fingertips together to form a steeple. “you can sign it and send it back from home, no problem. There will be a section under the monitor role that explains in detail the kind of reports I will expect you to turn in on Cosima, please read it through and familiarize yourself with it so you know what to observe. Is there anything you would like to ask?” He raised his eyebrows and his pink tongue poked at his front teeth in the way she found hard to look at it but impossible to ignore.

“Non.” 

What else could she say? Her career would be on the line if she refused. She was under no illusions about the power Aldous Leekie held in the scientific world, as well as over her visa and employment in Toronto. Delphine’s head was spinning, of all the things she could have expected from this meeting with Aldous, being made a fulltime monitor had not been a consideration at all. When he had come to her two months prior and offered her an insight into a top secret cloning experiment if she did some digging on his behalf, she had presumed this would mean she would be brought into the team as a scientist as a result, not in a job role that more often than not went to unsuspecting civilians or paid off actors. Plus, she still had her feelings for Cosima to unpick. This was quickly becoming an absolute rampage of chaos in her well organized and compartmentalized life. 

“Well, that concludes our meeting Dr. Beraud.” Aldous winked and stood, gesturing for her to leave his office. “I’ll be in touch. Welcome aboard Project Leda.”

Delphine blinked, thanked Aldous blandly as if she had just met him for the first time and hadn’t shared his bed on and off for the last eight months, and then left the office without another word. Lost as to what to do with herself in that moment, now she would not be returning to the lab she had previously been contracted to or meeting with Leekie in hotels near Cosima’s university campus to unofficially spy on one of his subjects. Her phone vibrated in her pocket as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to return to the ground floor. Taking it out, she saw she had an email from Aldous with the subject line ‘Tickets’. She swiped her thumb across the screen to open it and saw that he had sent her plane tickets back to Minnesota with no return date, and she was supposed to be flying in three hours time. Delphine sighed, pulled her coat tightly around her body as she stepped out into the cold air of Toronto, and waved down a taxi that happened to be driving past the entrance of the institute. She climbed in, directed the driver to her apartment, and ran her hands through her wavy golden locks as she sat back hard against the seat. She thought of Cosima, of how easy it would be to take advantage of someone with a heart so open and of how terrible it made her feel to be the one to do it. But if she was in danger and Delphine was the one placed to help avoid it, wouldn’t that balance out the lies and the secrecy? If someone had to protect Cosima even if it meant deceiving her, why shouldn’t it be Delphine? She could figure out the feelings she was developing for the other woman and work for Aldous at the same time, couldn’t she? With a deep, shaky breath and a sudden, gnawing urge for a cigarette, Delphine took her phone out of her pocket and typed a message to Cosima.

_Bonjour ma cherie. Lunch tomorrow? I can meet you at your lab at 12.30?_

The reply was so fast, Delphine had barely gotten her thumb from send to the home button before her phone vibrated.

_You bet, see ya there Eskimo Pie ;)_

The same warm and fluttery feeling from earlier spread out across Delphine’s entire body as she stared at the nickname she had been given. The memories that surfaced of the previous night seemed to slam against her temperal lobe. After Cosima had returned from her shopping trip, she had shed her red coat and climbed back on to the bed. Stalking up her lovers body like she was hunting prey, talking of showing Delphine the greatest way to enjoy the ice cream she had bought, the sure fire way to make her a craven addict. The Eskimo Pie had been trailed over her chest, then, after her bra cup had been pulled down to reveal her breast, her nipple had been lathered with the cold, sweet substance. Cosima had smiled devilishly then licked and sucked it off... so slowly, so sensually. The process had been repeated on her other nipple and up her neck to her ear lobe until Delphine was squirming and rocking desperately against her. 

Her body had become so warm, so wound tight in the back of the taxi as it travelled along the streets of the city that she was pushing her own thighs together to try and ease the tension that was building within. _Oh dieu, Cosima! What have you done to me?_ She was sure now that this was what it felt to be truly attracted to someone, it had to be. Nobody in her entire dating history had ever made her feel like this. Her tingling fingers shook as she placed her phone back in her pocket and allowed the smile she felt inside at the knowledge she would see Cosima again to bubble up and grace her features. She saw her face in the rearview mirror, shining with excitement and arousal. 

Yes, she could do this.


End file.
